There's got to be someone!
by Sorceress Fantasia
Summary: It’s after the war, and Heero and Duo are both back in school. A little snippet of how intertwined their lives actually are.


Title: There's got to be someone

Author: Sorceress Fantasia

Pairings: Implied 1+2

Warnings: Fluff, ficlet, some humour

Archive: Lev's Lair 

Fanfiction.net 

MediaMiner 

Notes: It's after the war, and Heero and Duo are both back in school. They are living in the same area, but in different apartments. This fic takes place simultaneously at both of their places.

Heero sighed, and pushed his blankets off. Sitting up, he reached for the alarm clock sitting on his nightstand, dismayed to find out that morning was still a good three hours away. He had been lying in bed, turning and tossing around for what, six hours? And still, he hadn't been able to fall asleep.

God damned coffee.

Stifling yet another sigh, he pushed himself off his bed and headed for the bathroom. Might as well do something productive rather than just lie in bed, he thought. Brushing his teeth, he silently wondered if anyone else was as sensitive to caffeine as he was. He rinsed his mouth, and spit into the basin.

'There's what… billions of people out there in this world? What are the chances of me being the only one kept awake by coffee at this hour? There *has* got to be someone out there having the same problem right now!'

*****

Wearily, Duo mentally crossed out coffee powder from his grocery list. It was the third damn time he was wide-awake because of the seemingly innocent powder, which he had drank for the sake of typing out a school report at night. The coffee was supposed to keep him up until he finished the report, but no! The effects of the caffeine just *had* to carry over to affect his sleep!

Cursing the teacher who demanded the report the next day and even the coffee producer, Duo pushed his quilt off his bed and sat up. He picked up his alarm clock, cursing again when he noticed that it was another three hours to morning, morning being 7am, when he had to wake up. Sighing, he trudged into his bathroom. Might as well start his day earlier.

After brushing his teeth and washing his face, he headed for the kitchen. Scratching his head, he looked around for a moment before finally deciding on having eggs and some toast for breakfast. It was fairly easy to cook them, for they were some of the things that he used to make for breakfast during the war. The ingredients were easily obtainable, and one did not need much culinary skills for that. Even Dorothy, the only person in the world who had an allergy to the kitchen, could do it without much effort. And that was the reason why he always prepared eggs and toast when it was his turn to cook. Duo sniggered as he remembered the look on Wufei's face upon finding out that it was his turn, after a particularly demanding mission. Wufei must have been looking forward to a hearty meal that included pancakes (who would have guessed that the Chinese boy absolutely loved pancakes with honey syrup?) and a nice cup of coffee, and when he woke up to find only eggs and a few slices of bread on the breakfast table, he groaned out loud. His expression was one of pure agony.

Duo laughed again at that thought, but yelped when he caught a whiff of burnt food. Quickly, he scooped up his eggs into his plate and took the bread out of the toaster. He sighed, but was thankful that it was still edible. Grabbing some butter from his fridge, he sat down at the table and began to dig into his food.

Halfway through, he looked up at the clock. 'Heh, eating half-burnt eggs and toast at 4.15am. I must be some weird fellow. Then again, there has got to be someone out there doing the same damn thing as me at this very moment! I can't be the only person in this whole wide world doing it!'

*****

Heero sat at his kitchen counter, poking at his half-burnt toast and eggs while eying them critically. Sure, the food was still fit for human consumption, but he couldn't help but think of better times. Times when Quatre fed them really delicious cuisine.

Truth be told, Heero was an admirer of good food. Sure, he had been trained to eat nearly anything so he wouldn't have problems feeding himself if he found himself in difficult situations, but no one ever told him that he couldn't have preferences! After all, few would turn down wonderful cooking. Even the perfect soldier wouldn't be so silly. Ah, he missed Quatre's chefs terribly. They could make even simple fare like eggs and toast taste like a delicacy. Oh well. Quatre was deep in space, having returned to L4 to continue with his Winner Corporation. He would have to make do with what he had.

Quickly, he stuffed the food into his mouth, hoping that he would be spared from the bitter taste if he ate them fast enough. Finding out it wasn't so, he made a face at the awful bitterness but still swallowed everything. Once he finished, Heero took the plates and cutlery and put them into the basin and washed them.

Leaving the kitchen, he went back to his room. Sliding into his chair, he waited for his laptop to finish loading. Even so, Heero could not stop the sigh that escaped his lips. He had long finished the report his teacher wanted, and had also finished his research for an upcoming project. Simply put, he had nothing to do apart from sit in front of his laptop and stare at the screen. He would probably burn his retinas. Not a good idea.

Then, he recalled Relena, who had become a good friend since the end of the war, telling him to not always think only of work. A normal person would try to strike a balance between work and play. Figuring he had nothing better to do anyway, Heero decided to heed her advice. He could go surf around the Internet or play a few of the online games his classmates had recommended him. But first, he had some email to check.

Logging into his email account, he was glad to find an email from Quatre, reminding him of the pilots' gathering that was scheduled a month later on Earth. Hmm… a gathering with the blonde boy meant fantastic food, and Heero licked his lips in quiet anticipation. Marking that one with high priority, he clicked on the next email. It was from Hirde, who was currently a classmate, reminding him to bring a book that she had been waiting to read for a very long time. She had tried calling Heero, but she recently found out that it was always easier to contact him via email. He had a tendency to ignore his phone.

Heero quickly stuffed the book into his backpack; he had nearly forgotten all about it. The lack of sleep made him absentminded, he told himself.

'I'm actually checking my email at this time of the day. I can't believe it. But then, I know that there's someone out there doing this too!'

*****

Duo reached for his planner and marked the day of the pilots' gathering, after reading the email reminder from Quatre. It was a good thing Quatre did this, or he would have forgotten all about it. With the date marked, Duo decided that it would be a good idea to clear any upcoming schoolwork quickly so he would be able to attend. Schoolwork had been, unfortunately, coming at him in droves recently. But luckily, he still found it manageable, unlike Hirde, whom he had occasionally found struggling in the library. Or according to one of his classmates, running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Duo laughed at the mental image. Ah well, he just prayed that the workload would decrease soon.

Logging out, he started to surf around the Internet in sheer boredom, finally stopping at an online game. It was touted an excellent game that required a lot of thinking and strategy, and his friends had recommended it to him ages ago. But he had never had the time for it. Well, when was a better time then now?

Shrugging, Duo applied for an account, using Spacer as his alias in the game. The game was one about kingdoms surviving in the middle ages, and his main job was to manage the country's resources and build up his military power so as to conquer other kingdoms and defend his own. Surprisingly, the game was not as difficult as some had said, and Duo sailed through the ranks. An hour later, he found himself at the second position of the current rankings.

'Hmm? The first guy on the rankings is called bored_guy? Really, some people just can't think of something creative.' Duo sighed, shaking his head melodramatically. 'But I guess I'm just as bored at this guy. I'm actually playing an online game at six in the morning!'

Shutting down his laptop, he leaned back in his chair. 'I can't be the only person doing this though! Whatever weird things I'm doing, there has to be someone doing it at the same second!'

*****

Heero surfed the Internet for a while, then decided to log into his favourite online game. It was, in fact, the only one he had ever played. Although he had first started it at his classmate's insistence, he quickly found himself enjoying it. Although it would never come close to fighting in a real war, it offered him a chance to use his wartime skills of strategies. And the satisfaction of a successful conquest gave him adrenaline rushes that he had been trained for. Within minutes, Heero had successfully recruited new members for his army, and trained up a new battalion of troops.

Suddenly feeling curious if anyone had taken his position as the first in the game, he clicked on the rankings page. He smiled smugly when he found his name, bored_guy, still in the first place. However, he was surprised to see a newcomer take the second place. He had never seen the name before, let alone seen it in the top twenty positions.

'Spacer? Hn, I'll make sure you'll always stay second!' He told himself resolutely, and then began to prepare for battle. Within half an hour, he had taken over a nearby kingdom and his score soared. 'Try beating that, Spacer!'

Finally satisfied, Heero logged out and went to his living room. Switching on the television, he changed channels for a while before stopping at the morning news. His mind was definitely in it, but his heart wasn't. Suddenly feeling lonely, Heero's eyes landed on the vid-phone.

'Who calls people at six in the morning? Me. Who wakes up at six in the morning to talk to their bored friend? I hope he does.' Heero thought. Silently, he picked up the vid-phone and dialed a familiar set of numbers. 'I hope he's awake, or he'll bitch at me the whole day for waking him up. Then again, I can't be the only person calling someone up at this time of the day! There's got to be someone doing the same thing! Remember, Heero Yuy! Whatever weird things you're doing, there's bound to be someone doing it as well!'

*****

Duo sighed in all boredom, and picked up his cell phone. 'I'm wide-awake, and completely bored off my balls. If I'm lucky, he'd be awake because he can't sleep after drinking a mug of coffee!'

Finding the number in his phone book, Duo pressed the numbers in his cell phone and waited patiently for the other person to pick up. Suddenly, he heard his vid-phone scream and he quickly rushed out to his living room. Hastily, he accepted the call and a familiar face appeared on screen. At the same moment, his friend picked up his phone call.

*****

"Heero?" Duo asked, wide-eyed. It couldn't be! How could it be so… coincidental?

"Duo?" Heero asked, his cell phone in hand.

He laughed. "Heero, let's converse with the vid-phone. I'm the one who called you on your cell phone."

"You are? What a coincidence…"

"Yeah, I know. I was just thinking about it a second ago. Anyway, what are you calling for?"

"…I can't sleep because I had a mug of coffee last night, and now I have nothing to do. So I thought I'd call you."

"You too? I have the same problem! I swear, that coffee is positively evil. It kept me awake all night! All I did in bed was to turn, toss around, turn, toss around, turn, toss around… You get the idea."

"Really? So, what're you calling for?"

"I've got nothing to do. I mean, I've had breakfast, checked my email, surfed the Internet and played a game. I've even finished my school report!"

"Oh god. I did all those things too. If I'm lucky, you would have had eggs and toast for breakfast too."

"I did. But my eggs and toast were half-burnt. Can you imagine it? Me, Duo Maxwell, letting his mind wander off so much I nearly burnt everything! Oh, I'm so gonna get Fei for this! I was just thinking about his abhorrence at letting me prepare breakfast, and then, geez..."

"Mine were half-burnt too."

"…"

"…"

"Wow."

"Yeah."

"I guess it's some cosmic rule we're not supposed to understand, huh Heero?"

"Maybe."

"Yeah… By the way, you wanna meet up for lunch later? We have a different time table today right?"

"Right. I'll see you at lunchtime then, at our tree."

"But Heero! The tree's shedding like crazy, I tell ya! I don't wanna find leaves in my food!"

"Fine. We'll meet at the cafeteria then."

"Okay. See ya later then. Bye!"

"Bye."

*****

As Duo disconnected the phone call, he was still chuckling over the whole idea of doing the exact same things as Heero. Sure, they were best friends, and knew each other better than anyone else, but for this to happen... If Hirde caught wind of it, she would be clapping and hooting enthusiastically, telling him that they were meant to be together. Ever since the war had ended, and the three of them settled down on Earth to further their studies, Hirde had been unusually enthusiastic in reading all those girl magazines. And one of those, unfortunately, had clued her in to something called the 'talking without words' thing that couples do.

Duo had tried to tell her that it was a matter of studying one's body language, but she believed otherwise. And recently, she had been watching Duo and Heero like some mother hen, hoping to find some evidence to support her words.

That was just one thing.

Hirde had also been telling them about the other 'couple thing'; about how a couple would have a subconscious knowledge of what the other was doing or thinking, and hence, mimic each other's thoughts and actions.

Duo laughed. If it were true, Heero would be dancing in the living room to his radio, like he was doing now.

And he couldn't for the life of him, picture that happening.

*****

In his lone apartment, Heero moved his body to the music coming out of his hi-five set.

'Duo's influence.' He told himself, and continued dancing.

Sorceress Fantasia @ 3rd February 2003

Proud member of 1X2ML, GWML, HDML, SDDI


End file.
